We got it done!

Past Polymer Images


The carpet that is! Spent Saturday re-carpeting the living room and I'm still putting it back together. We may also be doing a bedroom next weekend (or the one after) since my daughter is moving out. She's going to be rooming in a house with several other people and has decided that it's more feasible than living at home since the rent is cheaper. Yes, I charge my daughter rent. It's a long story but has a lot to do with financial responsibility and accountability. I love her dearly but it's time (at the age of almost 20) for her to try it on her own.

I'm back into working with polymer but still have tons of stuff to photograph and post. Yesterday I ended up having to run to the school when my littlest (Connor) threw up on the bus. He was fine, just a little car sick but I had to take him a change of clothes, the poor little guy! He's loving school and the teacher is really appealing to his crafty side (she said he asks everyday if they are doing a craft) by incorporating crafts and learning together. Both he and Duncan (my middle boy) have teachers that are the perfect fit this year.

I'm finding that my 3 hours of "Art" time is usually not so artistic and more catch up time than anything else, though I'm trying to be insistent (with myself) to spend at least 2 of those days lampworking. Oh well, life is moving along as it should no matter what I have planned.

At the top I've posted some of my past polymer projects (1-2 years). If I remember right the mask took 2nd or 3rd in a group contest on Ebay. This gives you a bit of an idea of what my style is. I should have at least 2 ornaments up on Etsy by the end of the week.

Have a great day!

The Mornings Fly.....

New Dragonfly Bangle Bracelet
Butterfly Branch Bead
Fall Pumpkin

by.......Not that the rest of the day doesn't do the same, but the mornings seem to be the quickest. Here is a sample of what my weekday morning is like:

5:30 AM get first boy up, make lunch for him while signing into email.

6:15 first boy leaves for school. I now have about 20-30 minutes to look through and answer or open said email. Emails usually end up with me being on another artistic site. There are several that I like to check daily (gotta stop doing that).

6:45 second boy is up, packing another lunch, visit with him for a bit before he leaves for school (first boy isn't as friendly in the morning).

7:35 second boy leaves for school. Now I continue with email, listing, creating, photographing and whatever else seems to be pertinent at the moment. Sometimes it seems like I spend so much time bouncing from one thing to the next that I haven't really accomplished anything.

My last boy gets up, usually, between 8-9 and then we continue with breakfast, some play time, a quick post maybe, and the like until we leave here at 11:15 to walk up to the bus stop.

Most mornings it seems like I blink, and that's it, the afternoon has arrived and my first boy is home.

Somehow I had bigger visions for my 3 hours of free time in the afternoon, which I usually end up torching with. Sometimes it's wire or polymer clay but the torch is the one thing that needs my full attention, preferably, without distractions. Can you imagine how fast 3 hours goes when you are trying to accomplish something??

Anyway, I really have no complaints about how my days go, I just need to be a little more organized when it comes to my work, and as for the internet. I need to pick one day a week to do my "surfing" on, like say Sunday.

A quick note, I have begun working on ornaments. I should start listing them on Etsy next week sometime. A couple of Halloween theme ones and some florals. Keep your eye out!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

On The Verge Of Fall

Fall Garden
Shells for Pandora, Troll or Biagi Chains
Bird Nest Ring


The weather has finally taken a turn to the cooler side. It looks like Fall is here. I've begun to work on ornaments along with a new jewelry idea that I'm really excited about. Unfortunately it takes a couple of days to prepare the materials properly before I'm able to work with them.

This weekend we are going to be laying some carpet, Jimmy brought home from work, that's new (used) from a remodel he's doing. It still has that that new carpet smell. Cocoa being sick, was kind of the last straw for our current living room carpet.

I'm still missing Cocoa a lot. Especially when the kids are at school. We'll wait and see what furry family member comes our way in the near future.

Enjoy your Friday!

New Creations

I've got some new glass and jewelry up! Finally, things are starting to get back to somewhat of a routine :) I'm trying to squeeze some lampwork in, about 4 days a week, even if I only play around with making a couple of beads. I've been making a lot of viking knit chains to incorporate into some of my jewelry. It's a great thing to do (like regular knitting) when you have to wait on something (pictures loading for example).

Jimmy got our shop cleaned up so I'm going to start working on some wood ideas I have for jewelry. We may even collaborate on some things, who knows. He's going to set up an area in there just for me. I would move my lampwork down there but sawdust and flames DO NOT mix. So I'll stay put on that. Plus I enjoy the work space I have, though I need to de-clutter it too!

The weather is unseasonably warm right now, upper 70's, low 80's. It looks like it's supposed to start cooling down in the next couple of days. I've been enjoying it after our early Fall preview a couple of weeks ago and know this isn't going to last too long before we'll be forced to turn on the heater or light a fire. In the meantime it's nice!

Halloween is fast approaching and the kids are thrilled. I don't know why but I'm kind of looking forward to it myself and while we live in a rural area that doesn't get Trick-or-Treaters I'm thinking we'll be putting up some scary decorations just for the fun of it. Check out this cool site for scary paper crafts http://ravensblight.com/papertoys.html The kids will love it!!

We Are Healing

It's been a couple of days and we still have that hole. Which will be for quite a while. We made a trip to the local animal shelter today. The boys loved seeing all the dogs and cats. I'm finding that I lean towards the older dogs, a little under or over a year. They are much calmer and seem to have a little more sense than the puppies. I love puppies but feel like I don't have the patience for them like I used to. I found myself drifting towards the dogs who were receptive towards attention (scratches) and orders (sit!), than the little, hyper puppies.

We didn't come home with a new family member today. The kids are wanting a puppy but I have been talking to them about rescuing an older dog. I'm the one who will be spending the most time with it and while I understand and respect what the kids are feeling, I also feel that it is more worthwhile to "rescue" a dog that actually might be put down in the end. Labs seem to be favored. I noticed a couple of older labs/retriever type dogs that had been adopted right away. I REALLY lean towards Shepard mixes. Cocoa, was a mix, and the dog I had before her was a husky mix. There is something about the markings that I can't resist! Be sure that I pay attention to how they behave towards people, children, & others dogs, so....... no worries! I'm thinking it will be about a month (or more) before we get the next dog. Stay tuned!!

More art sometime next week!

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory Of Cocoa

January 1st, 2003-September 11th, 2008

A true & loyal friend, companion, playmate & guardian.

You will be greatly missed!

Rolling Right Along.......

Cocoa is slowly improving. Very slowly. She's still not eating on her own but I keep at her & she is putting up a fight so I know she's regaining her strength. She's also able to move more easily.

So far the week it going fairly smooth. The kids and I are adjusting to the back to school routine nicely and I actually lampworked two days in a row (Woo Hoo!). It's more of a warm up but it's amazing to be able to sit in front of my torch for 2-3 hours without a single interruption. While I torch I listen to books on my mp3 player. I'm on the 3rd book of a Nora Roberts series (Born In) and have more waiting. I used to listen to music but I have found that listening to books is much more entertaining and boy does the time fly (not that it doesn't already when I'm torching). She is my current favorite. I'm waiting on some Orson Scott Card too. I listened to Ender's Game a few weeks ago and that is a long series of books. He's a great Sci-Fi writer! However there's a wait list for the second book (Speaker for the Dead) on mp3 from the library.

Hopefully I should have new stuff to show at the end of the week. Stay tuned!

A New Week

Cocoa seems to be slowly improving. She's still not eating on her own but she is much more coherent, moving around more and fighting me when it comes to force feeding her. Makes it a pain to feed her but at least she has the energy to resist, which I consider a good thing. I will have to steam clean the living room and office when this is finally over from her accidents and the like but I had been meaning to do that for awhile so, I'm glad I put it off.

There's still a lot of stress in the house but I'll work through that. The kids will be in school for their first full week this week and I'm hoping to get some serious lampworking in. Of course the weather is warming back up again, which I think is par for the course when it comes to September, but there is still a Fall nip in the air in the morning.

Right now I'm just muddling through everything right now knowing that tomorrow is a new day. The best part of all of this is that my boys are excited to be going to school.

A couple of more pictures of things I have yet to list......

What A Week It's Been

The kids are back to school but still not quite in the swing of things. Dakota's eye is back to good and he has a follow up appointment tomorrow. Duncan is loving his new teacher, who happens to be a man, and is the first male teacher any of my kids have had in elementary school. Connor can hardly wait to get to kindergarten each day and is absolutely loving it! I met him at school on the first day and I have to admit that my heart made a little pang over seeing him finally there, but he was just fine with me leaving and has no problems with getting on the bus and heading off to school. This is a totally new adventure for him.

On a difficult note. Cocoa is REALLY sick and right now it's touch and go. I took her to the vet yesterday morning, first thing, after getting the older kids off to school. It looks like she's got a serious infection and they have her on a powerful (and expensive) antibiotic. I didn't think she was going to make it through the night last night and my daughter was beside herself (the boys were asleep). This morning she was still breathing, much to my relief, and seemed a bit better this afternoon. I have to force feed her both yesterday and today and she seems to understand that we are trying to help her. I'm holding my breath tonight and hoping she will show more visible improvement tomorrow, after being on the medicine for a couple of days. At this point I'm exhausted but not giving up the battle. She is a wonderful dog and we are hoping and praying that she will pull out of it SOON.

I've done very little creating lately. Lampworking is out of the question at this point and I've been really busy with everything else that by the time evening comes along all I want to do is rest. My mind is barely functioning for wire work but I'm trying to create a little something every night.

This evening I'm working on getting a couple of things listed. I added some things from a couple of weeks ago to my Just Beads and am hoping to get a couple more goodies up on Ebay.......we'll see where I'm at when the kids are in bed.

In the meantime I'll post a couple pictures to give you an idea of what I was, and will be working on.

Enjoy your evening.